I haven't used Monarch since about 2007. I can see that a lot has been added to the software since then, which is great. However, having been about a decade since I've used the product, I see that there is now a tremendous amount of new capabilities that can be utilized with the software. I've watched the pertinent tutorials and diligently scoured the online guides to try to bring myself back up to speed with how the application now works and how to accomplish the task I need to complete. That being said, I'm having one heck of a time trying to sort all of the bells and whistles out. Models, projects, Data Prep, etc.

What I'm trying to accomplish is quite simple. At least I believe it is... I receive a hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pdf's from various creditors that we work with. Once in a while the media that I receive has completely funky, random naming conventions that have no reference to the account number that it's linked to. When these instances occur, I have to manually open each pdf, get the account number (and hope I don't mistype any digits) and rename the file individually (as the naming convention we use incorporates the account number in it). As you can assume, this is incredibly time consuming, tedious and inefficient....

I'd like to create just a simple template that gleans account numbers off of credit card statements. I'd like to then take this template and open a folder of pdf's of statements and load them into the template and have it spit back the account number from each individual pdf. From there I can then use a renaming program to rename the files on a batch basis.

I've tried creating a template by using a random statement from the folder of pdf's that I need to rename and have made a trap to isolate the account number using alpha, numeric, blank and non-blank characters. From there I'm pretty lost. Am I saving this as a Project? Model? What's the next step? Tables? Data Prep? Loading the pdf's?

Which version do you have available? I assume V13 and "Complete" since you mention Data Prep and a lot of other features but I guess it's best to check ....

If you are working in the "Monarch Classic" way - so conceptually very much along the lines of what you would have have back in 2007 but with a different user interface - your template will be saved in a Model.

If you also save a Project then at the simple level the Model and the report it relates to will be grouped together. Open the project and everything pops open for you. - except you need to adapt that loading multiple pdf files.

Projects also allow you to save Exports for re-use so very applicable in your situation.

So you could start the refresher activity there and ensure that you have a template that works with all the pdf input files that you can find. and produced an output file giving the information you need.

I apologize for the delayed response. I’ve been out of the office the past two weeks.Thank you very muchfor getting me moving in the right direction.I have the trial version at the moment, though it is version 13.2.1.

I was able to create a template and glean the account numbers from the hundreds of statements that I needed to process, thanks to you. I was almost “there” but I definitely needed that extra guidance that you provided.I really appreciate that.

I do not have an Automation license, as this is a trial. Is this what was formerly known as Datawatch Data Pump?

I'm delighted that my lightweight guidance was enough to reactivate your memory! I had hoped it would.

Monarch has a few flavours these days with "Classic" (the latest iteration of the traditional Monarch approach and its user interface) being joined by the "Data Prep" functionality and the "all features available" "Complete". Having the options available with Complete means that you can pick your starting point according to the nature of the task and, perhaps, your expectation of whether you are looking at a one-off quick extraction activity or the start of a more complex and regularly used reporting process that may clearly need to special techniques if the approach is to be successful.

In past times you could "automate" Monarch in different ways, the simplest being based on Windows scripting. For the coders who wanted to do there own levels of integration (or just liked coding!) there were COM and VB opportunities documented and then there was Data Pump which originally came in a "desktop" version for a while but the main version was, as I recall, always a Server product.

For various reasons, including to some extent advancing into the use of newer technologies, updating Monarch has resulted in dropping the more basic automation options and the introduction of Automator to replace Data Pump AND what might be loosely described generically as "desktop automation". So now there is newly available Desktop Automator for individuals and a fuller version aimed at wider use within an Enterprise.

Which approach you might choose to take to automation is likely to depend on how you anticipate any future benefits from automation to evolve within your business.